Year: 1942
Director: William A. Wellman
Country: US
Language: English
Upon my shock of discovering that Bob Fosse's 1970's broadway hit was NOT the first time the public had seen Chicago, it was made in 1927 by Cecil B. DeMille (uncredited because he was also making the deeply religious King of Kings at the time), I decided to watch the original film version and found myself amazed at how good a "silent musical" could be. So Chicago (1927) must have led to the Bob Fosse version right? Nope! We have one more stop to do, a remake in 1942.
In this film, Roxie Hart signs a murder confession in order to attract publicity for her dancing career as dames don't swing in Cook County. Will everything go as planned?
While Chicago (1927) will be a joy to watch because of how engulfed it is in the roaring twenties, Roxie Hart may be a chore because of how hard it tries to remind you of the setting. The script throws phrases of the day in quick succession throughout the entirety of the run-time, but often the lingo used doesn't work in context to the conversation. It's cute at first, but gets tedious as the picture goes on.
Roxie Hart feels a little more censored than the original (Well duh, Chicago was pre-code) and struggles to deal with its themes in a mature way. During a scene where two women are fighting, some applesauce attaboys thought it would be a big cheese big six (see how annoying lingo out of context is?) to include some noises of screeching cats. Roxie also isn't a deranged murderer in this film...but a dumb but sweet kid. Just...no.
Some part of me hopes that Roxie Hart was butchered purely because of circumstance and time period, but the several successful film-noir pictures made during this period tell me that this film just isn't that good especially compared to every other film & stage version that came before and after it.
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